Page 40 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

I realised she was responding in present tense, as though her daughter were still alive. Maybe I was wrong about her and she was grieving, or at least deep in denial. She started to chew on a fingernail and I noticed they were all ragged and short; she was an anxiety chewer like me.

‘Have you ever considered having your nails done?’ I asked lightly, wondering if it could have been her fake nail I’d found beneath her daughter. ‘I used to chew mine until I started getting the fake ones. It stopped when I couldn’t chew through them.’

She dropped her hands. ‘It doesn’t stop me.’ My ears pricked up and excitement coursed through me. ‘So I quit getting them done.’

Dammit. ‘Is there anyone you can think of that would want Aoife dead?’

Nora’s face tightened into a scowl. ‘No. Everyone loved her.’

The only time I’d met Aoife before all this started, she’d been friendly enough. She’d reported a drug bust and been excited and giggly, although now that I thought back she could have been drunk or high. ‘Did Aoife take drugs?’ I asked.

‘What? No, she did not!’ Nora stood up, outraged. ‘What are you insinuating? Are you trying to blame her for her own death?’

‘Of course not. Sit down, please. No, I’m not trying to blame her for her own murder; I’m trying to narrow down a suspect. Drug dealers aren’t known for their kind natures.’

She glared at me icily but reluctantly sat back down. ‘Drugs?’ I prompted.

‘I don’t know,’ she admitted grudgingly. ‘She’s underage for alcohol and marijuana, so if she did either she kept it from me. She knows I wouldn’t tolerate that kind of thing.’

I had no idea if fisheye could harm a banshee, though it had killed a vampire, almost killed a demigod and generally wrought havoc around town. I guessed it was too late to worry about Aoife taking it.

‘What about Luke?’ I probed.

‘What about him?’

‘Do you think he could have killed Aoife?’

‘No. He’s a good kid. He’s been through a lot, and he adores Aoife.’

‘Do you know where we found Aoife’s body?’

Nora paled but nodded.

‘Do you know why she was there?’ She’d been behind some houses at the edge of the woods and that had been bothering me. The family who owned the property didn’t know her and were deeply disturbed about what had happened. There was no logical reason for her to have been there.

Nora shook her head. ‘I don’t know for sure but I have my suspicions. I wondered if it was a stopping point for her when she teleported from home to wherever. It’s at the edge of her teleport range from our house.’

That made sense: Aoife probably stopped in the same places when she teleported. With a range of about a mile, she could get to town from her house with two stops. Since no one had reported her zipping around, she must have kept her abilities on the down-low and paused in discreet places like the woods.

‘Is there a limit to how many times you can teleport in a fixed period of time?’ I asked.

‘It depends on your energy reserves. Aoife was stronger than me in that regard too,’ she said proudly.

Since she seemed off-guard, I asked, ‘Did you harm your daughter?’

‘No! Never!’ she snarled at me.

‘Did you steal the wind gem or take the fire gem from your daughter?’

‘Absolutely not.’ She stood up and put her hands on her hips. Her shirt sleeve rode up, exposing her wrist where a fleck of red paint was visible – red paint the exact shade of the threats on my wall. I let my eyes linger there deliberately and she hastily pulled down her sleeve.

‘Done any spray painting recently?’ I asked mildly.

‘You can’t prove anything,’ she hissed. And then she teleported away.

Chapter 24

Nora’s anti-barrier sentiments had been clear in all of our chats and I wouldn’t have put it past her to steal either of the gems, but despite her prickly demeanour I really didn’t think she’d harm her own kid. Me, however… I was ninety-nine percent sure she was the one who’d spray- painted a threat to burn me if I didn’t drop the barrier.

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